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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The weather improved today in London, allowing all but one of the first round qualifying matches in both the men's and women's draws to finish. After the long day had ended, five US men and six US women had advanced to Wednesday's second round, although both Tim Smyczek and Dennis Novikov had the day off after getting their first round matches in on Monday.

Former USC star Daniel Nguyen, playing in his first Wimbledon qualifying, defeated 2010 Wimbledon boys champion Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-3, 6-3 and will play Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia in the second round. No. 6 seed Bjorn Fratangelo topped Ryan Harrison 6-4, 7-5 and No. 22 seed Austin Krajicek outlasted JP Smith of Australia 6-2, 3-6, 11-9. Fratangelo and Krajicek will play each other for a spot in the main draw if Fratangelo beats Axel Michon of France and Krajicek defeats wild card Joe Salisbury, the former Memphis star.
Smyczek's second round opponent is Hiroki Moriya of Japan and Novikov faces Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus.

In the women's section of eight that featured four Americans, three won, with No. 6 seed Lauren Davis defeating Lesley Kerkhove of Netherlands 6-3, 6-3, Jessica Pegula beating Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium 6-1, 6-1 and Julia Boserup topping No. 23 seed Jennifer Brady 6-2, 6-2. Pegula and Boserup will meet in the second round, with the winner playing Davis, if Davis beats Barbara Haas of Austria.

In Wimbledon Junior news, the withdrawal deadline was today, and Australian Open champion Vera Lapko of Belarus is the most notable player to pull out. Since the initial acceptances, Claire Liu, Morgan Coppoc and Caty McNally have moved into the main draw, putting the number of US girls at 10. The US boys main draw number remains at 4, although eight are now in qualifying.

Qualifying was completed today at the $25,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Baton Rouge Louisiana, with several teenagers reaching the main draw. Sixteen-year-old Elysia Bolton, playing in her second professional event (her first was qualifying last week in Sumter) advanced to the main draw with a 6-0, 6-3 win over No. 7 seed Jaeda Daniel. Teens Usue Arconada, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Nicole Frenkel and Caroline Dolehide also earned their places in the main draw, as did former college stars Lauren Herring(Georgia), Giuliana Olmos(USC) and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee). Japan's Riko Sawayanagi is the top seed, and will play wild card Ronit Yurovsky(Michigan) in the first round. Other wild cards went to Abigail Desiatnikov, Ashley Kratzer and Ella Taylor of Great Britain. Desiatnikov and Kratzer lost their first round matches today.

College tennis may be over, but there's no off-season for news.

Jeremy Feldman, the men's assistant at Wake Forest for the past two years, has taken the head coaching position at UNC-Charlotte.

Tina Samara, who was head women's coach at Wisconsin for the past three years, is taking over at University of the Pacific. The Big Ten now has two head coach openings, at Michigan State and now at Wisconsin. Oklahoma is the only other Power 5 school with a women's head coaching vacancy, according to Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today.

One of the high-profile assistant positions was filled last week, with Tanner Stump of Mississippi State moving over to Florida to replace Gators men's assistant Mark Merklein, who is leaving coaching.